Transport use up 20%

KCAccidental

Cork has seen significant growth in the number of people using public transport since 2013, according to figures released by the National Transport Authority.

Anne Graham, CEO of the National Transport Authority said: “The pick-up in passenger numbers in Cork on both bus and train services is very encouraging.

“Overall growth in the Cork area has been very strong at 20.3% with Iarnród Éireann Cork commuter services growing by 29% over the past four years.

“During the recession, Bus Éireann passenger journeys in the regional cities suffered a similar drop to Dublin Bus although the decline in passenger journeys slowed in 2011 and stabilised in 2012 and 2013. In 2014 a reasonably significant increase of 3.7% was seen. Growth in 2015 and 2016 combined was just over 8%.”

Last year, 12.6 million journeys were taken on Bus Éireann in Cork city. The Cork city network accounts for almost 40% of Bus Éireann subsidised passenger journeys.

Outside the Dublin region, the strongest growth in Bus Éireann passenger revenues over the past three years is in Cork city, with growth of over 40%.

There were 1.2 million journeys on the Iarnród Éireann Cork commuter service in 2016. The service showed the strongest growth in passenger numbers of all the sectors between 2013 and 2016.

The rises in Cork echo a nationwide trend that has seen the number of journeys on subsidised public transport and commercial bus services increase by almost 31 million in the last four years.

In 2013, there were 210 million passengers nationwide on subsidised services, while in 2016 that number went up to 236 million.

Ms Graham used the publication of the statistics as an opportunity to highlight the need for ‘significant investment’ in public transport.

“The figures we are publishing today are an indication that there is a clear demand for an efficient and reliable public transport service,” she said. “Particularly so when the public transport alternative is environmentally friendly and offers value for money.

“It is also remarkable that we have been able to accommodate this increase in passenger numbers with virtually no increase in operating capacity.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/corknews/Bus-and-rail-use-in-Cork-jumps-by-more-than-20--f8a9732e-4e7d-4189-89db-ec498c3631a2-ds

Positive news. It's amazing to think that making services more attractive with real time information, Leap card, and cleaner and newer buses would make such a difference.

It's almost as if investing in transport attracts more commuters :pac:

Dbu

I know, it would make you wonder how they still lose so much money every year.

whisky_galore

Dbu wrote: »

I know, it would make you wonder how they still lose so much money every year.

State Public transport in this country doesn't make a profit. And they are caught between wages demanded by unions and making the cost affordable to the public, maintaining facilities (a cost which the Aircoaches don't have) and the elephant in the room, the mass of people travelling for nothing.

Outkast_IRE

The leap card available through employers has contributed quite a bit to this along with the general upturn in economy.

From my own experience i started working in the city center in early 2015. If i got the 7.45 bus at that time there was maybe 6-10 people on it. By 2017 the same bus was quite full every morning with people standing etc.

Over the space of 2 years i have witnessed a massive uptake in public transport usage on the route i use.

Bus and rail in the city does turn a profit but it subsidises the less profitable routes, which is fine with me as its a public service.

snotboogie

What are the chances of an East-West (or any) BRT in Cork City?

namloc1980

Dbu wrote: »

I know, it would make you wonder how they still lose so much money every year.

Not really. Running a bus network is not cheap and when your add in that there are nearly 1 million free travel passes in issue in Ireland, then a huge portion of those journeys are generating no fare income so it must be subsidised centrally.

namloc1980

snotboogie wrote: »

What are the chances of an East-West (or any) BRT in Cork City?

Zero at the moment. Not on the government's capital spending agenda. And honestly that's not going to change in the next decade I would say.

DylanGLC

The new busses are great! You can really tell the difference between when you get one of the new, spacious, clean ones (with the screens) and when you get an old one. I assume they are being phased out?

I think the main thing the city (working with the county for the areas of the county which are about to become part of the city for sure: Douglas, Rochestown, Grange, etc) needs to do is introduce more bus lanes. A while ago they changed the 216 (and 220) route so that it goes through Maryborough Woods, and there is a bus lane for the 220 at the end of the hill so it has been much faster. I have noticed in the last few months, the service seems to be much more punctual. However, busses, like cars, must follow traffic, so the more bus lanes that are available, the less busses will be stuck in traffic. Obviously, easier said than done, but it is important for them to at least recognise the importance of them and take that into account in new roads (such as in the Docklands).

A little off topic but if they do plan on adding BRT (and eventually LRT) in the Docklands (and eventually the rest of the city), as they said they do, they will need to make all new streets wider. In the city centre they are making streets thinner, which is perfectly fine because then there are bigger footpaths in areas such as Perry Street. However, in the Docklands, where there will definitely be cars, busses and hopefully eventually a tram, they need to make sure the roads are wide enough to support it (although that does seem to be there intention, but hopefully they stick to it).

_Roz_

I have to use the bus unless I want to do a 40 minute walk to and from work each day now (I prefer to sit on a bus and read!) and I'm based very close to the city centre but I'm honestly driven mad by the buses. I have to be at my bus stop in the mornings a good 12 minutes early so I don't miss it when it arrives 10 minutes early. And then it sits in the city centre for 10 minutes waiting for the timetable to catch up. What good is realtime information to me if the bus is due at 8:25 and may arrive at any time from 8:14 onward? I still have to arrive well in advance to be sure of catching the bus. 5 minutes either side of the due time, sure, but 10 or more? I'm mostly referring to the 216, but the 220 is guilty of it too, in both directions. They tear along Douglas Road, and the estimated time goes from 12 minutes to 2 minutes in the space of about 3 minutes.

kub

Some of the new batch were spotted recently on the way to Cork.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/be216cd1/36748085556/in/photostream/

blindsider

whisky_galore wrote: »

State Public transport in this country doesn't make a profit. And they are caught between wages demanded by unions and making the cost affordable to the public, maintaining facilities (a cost which the Aircoaches don't have) and the elephant in the room, the mass of people travelling for nothing.

DSP pays for these - it's certainly not for nothing! BE get paid for the trips.


Bus Eireann are inept. They can't run a half-decent service in a small city like Cork.

"What's a timetable?" "Sure, aren't you lucky I'm here at all?" "If you don't like it, get off the bus!"

Quotes from a bus driver in the last 3 months - I kid you not!

namloc1980

blindsider wrote: »

DSP pays for these - it's certainly not for nothing! BE get paid for the trips.


Bus Eireann are inept. They can't run a half-decent service in a small city like Cork.

"What's a timetable?" "Sure, aren't you lucky I'm here at all?" "If you don't like it, get off the bus!"

Quotes from a bus driver in the last 3 months - I kid you not!

They don't get paid for the trips. They get a flat fee which is much less than the equivalent they would generate if those trips were paid at full paying fares.

12.6m trips in 2016 means they are running a service that quite a few people use.

Ludo

blindsider wrote: »

"What's a timetable?" "Sure, aren't you lucky I'm here at all?" "If you don't like it, get off the bus!"

Quotes from a bus driver in the last 3 months - I kid you not!

And what prompted him to say this? Sounds like he says trying to wind up someone deliberately.

the beer revolu

_Roz_ wrote: »

I have to use the bus unless I want to do a 40 minute walk to and from work each day now (I prefer to sit on a bus and read!) and I'm based very close to the city centre but I'm honestly driven mad by the buses. I have to be at my bus stop in the mornings a good 12 minutes early so I don't miss it when it arrives 10 minutes early. And then it sits in the city centre for 10 minutes waiting for the timetable to catch up. What good is realtime information to me if the bus is due at 8:25 and may arrive at any time from 8:14 onward? I still have to arrive well in advance to be sure of catching the bus. 5 minutes either side of the due time, sure, but 10 or more? I'm mostly referring to the 216, but the 220 is guilty of it too, in both directions. They tear along Douglas Road, and the estimated time goes from 12 minutes to 2 minutes in the space of about 3 minutes.

You'd be doing every bus user a huge favour if you took note of some of these instances and wrote a letter of complaint. I understand busses sometimes being late due to traffic or breakdowns but there is absolutely no excuse for busses departing before their scheduled time. It is purely down to the drivers not giving a toss about the paying passenger and should be addressed.

Or alternatively, you could tweet bus eireann whenever it happens.

kub

What's new there? The Unions that drivers are members of don't care about the public, as they have shown time and time again

pwurple

A map of the routes would be nice wouldn't it.

If anyone can tell me where the heck the 202 and the 202A go....

I am actually embarrassed when I have to explain to foreigners that no map of our public bus service exists.

KCAccidental

pwurple wrote: »

A map of the routes would be nice wouldn't it.

If anyone can tell me where the heck the 202 and the 202A go....

I am actually embarrassed when I have to explain to foreigners that no map of our public bus service exists.

it does exist. It's on the national journey planner website along with a fully interactive map

https://www.transportforireland.ie/journey-planner/maps/

whisky_galore

blindsider wrote: »

"What's a timetable?" "Sure, aren't you lucky I'm here at all?" "If you don't like it, get off the bus!"

Quotes from a bus driver in the last 3 months - I kid you not!

Some drivers are great, then there are other surly b*stards who seem to think taking out a bus is an unwarranted intrusion into their nap time.

pwurple

KCAccidental wrote: »

it does exist. It's on the national journey planner website along with a fully interactive map

https://www.transportforireland.ie/journey-planner/maps/

Sorry to be a pedant, but that's a schematic, NOT a map. These symbols >> (see Blackrock road on the 202 ) tell me nothing except a chunk of information is missing there. The little diamond that stands for "certain journeys only", but what journeys? It's not joined up with the timetables.

I want a map with routes overlaid on roads, with the stops marked on it. Something I can hand someone coming to visit me, or send to a tourist, mark my house on it, and where we are meeting later on for food.

Like this:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/central-london-bus-map.pdf

The "fully interactive map" is a pain in the backside. You know what "Fully interactive" part it's missing? Any way to mark something on it. And also, I've to scoot around it on a phone, instead of laying a big map out on a table and putting some post its on it.

whisky_galore

pwurple wrote: »

The "fully interactive map" is a pain in the backside. You know what "Fully interactive" part it's missing? Any way to mark something on it. And also, I've to scoot around it on a phone, instead of laying a big map out on a table and putting some post its on it.

As informative as BE's own website, which cannot even quote me an adult return fare no matter what I do....'computer says no'...

Ludo

whisky_galore wrote: »

As informative as BE's own website, which cannot even quote me an adult return fare no matter what I do....'computer says no'...

From where to where?
I just tried there out of curiosity and got 21.84 return Cork to Limerick.

whisky_galore

Ludo wrote: »

From where to where?
I just tried there out of curiosity and got 21.84 return Cork to Limerick.

I want to check fares on the 220X timetable, the 220 is the only one available from the pull-down list.

KCAccidental

pwurple wrote: »

Sorry to be a pedant, but that's a schematic, NOT a map. These symbols >> (see Blackrock road on the 202 ) tell me nothing except a chunk of information is missing there. The little diamond that stands for "certain journeys only", but what journeys? It's not joined up with the timetables.

I want a map with routes overlaid on roads, with the stops marked on it. Something I can hand someone coming to visit me, or send to a tourist, mark my house on it, and where we are meeting later on for food.

Like this:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/central-london-bus-map.pdf

The "fully interactive map" is a pain in the backside. You know what "Fully interactive" part it's missing? Any way to mark something on it. And also, I've to scoot around it on a phone, instead of laying a big map out on a table and putting some post its on it.

If you input the route into the journey planner and press the pdf symbol you will get the maps you are looking for

Get in touch with TFI with your concerns. I'd imagine as far as they are concerned they have the maps covered.

Ludo

whisky_galore wrote: »

I want to check fares on the 220X timetable, the 220 is the only one available from the pull-down list.

From Ballincollig (EMC Terminus) to Crosshaven (Opp Buckleys Pub)
Outward Journey: Wednesday, August 30 2017InfoSeatDepartArriveServiceRouteChangeFares*Select
i
11:23 12:39 220X 0 ,€6.65


Looks like 6.65 return from EMC to Crosshaven for tomorrow.

OOps...thats one way. 13.30 return. Sounds expensive. Is that right?

namloc1980

Ludo wrote: »

From Ballincollig (EMC Terminus) to Crosshaven (Opp Buckleys Pub)
Outward Journey: Wednesday, August 30 2017InfoSeatDepartArriveServiceRouteChangeFares*Select
i
11:23 12:39 220X 0 ,€6.65


Looks like 6.65 return from EMC to Crosshaven for tomorrow.

OOps...thats one way. 13.30 return. Sounds expensive. Is that right?

Cash fares are very expensive. You can get a 24hr ticket on Leap Card covering all buses in the Red & Green zones in Cork for €8.60. Anyone paying with cash on buses should really get themselves a Leap Card.

TrustedApple

namloc1980 wrote: »

Cash fares are very expensive. You can get a 24hr ticket on Leap Card covering all buses in the Red & Green zones in Cork for €8.60. Anyone paying with cash on buses should really get themselves a Leap Card.

Nail on the head I get to bus to work in the morning and still maybe 40% have a leep card. While 60% pay cash I don't understand why as say going to work every day one bus there same back you save 1.20 with a leep over a week that's 6 euros you have and that is basicly 2 days extra traveling a week your paying!!!

I am lucky in work I can get a tax saver and as on the bigger rate of tax I only pay 40 euros a month for my pass. So 10 euros a week bargain way cheaper then a car !!!

Sephiroth_dude

Ballincollig - Cork City is still a rip off at 7.80 return, in saying that though the service has improved greatly in the last number of year and buses seem too be on time for the most part.

boardsuser1

kub wrote: »

Some of the new batch were spotted recently on the way to Cork.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/be216cd1/36748085556/in/photostream/

A good lash of them on the way. 16 double deckers in total, once the older ones are withdrawn Cork will still be up a few buses.

Henry94

The 205 route seems to be improving with new drivers who are able to stick to the timetable. I hope it continues.

pwurple

KCAccidental wrote: »

If you input the route into the journey planner and press the pdf symbol you will get the maps you are looking for

Get in touch with TFI with your concerns. I'd imagine as far as they are concerned they have the maps covered.

Sorry, but No. It doesn't draw the map of the bus route on there. It marks a start point, and an end point and draws a straight line between them.

It's rubbish tbh. No marking of where the stops are. No indication even of where the bus goes, unless you want to spend the whole day trying to figure it out one stop at a time.

And yes, I have already contacted Transport for Ireland on this, and they told me it's not available.

Seems like a simple requirement. But no.

KCAccidental

pwurple wrote: »

Sorry, but No. It doesn't draw the map of the bus route on there. It marks a start point, and an end point and draws a straight line between them.

It's rubbish tbh. No marking of where the stops are. No indication even of where the bus goes, unless you want to spend the whole day trying to figure it out one stop at a time.

And yes, I have already contacted Transport for Ireland on this, and they told me it's not available.

Seems like a simple requirement. But no.

No It doesn't. It gives you a PDF of the full route on a map with the bus stops marked. It then gives you the route broken down in to 4 segments from a closer perspective